Written Answers Wednesday 27 July 2005

Scottish Executive

Common Agricultural Policy

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact any re-negotiation of the Common Agricultural Policy proposed by the Prime Minister to the EU Council of Ministers will have on farming and crofting in the Highlands and Islands.

Ross Finnie: The future of the Common Agricultural Policy has been raised in recent weeks in the context of EU management over the medium to long-term and the 2007-13 financial perspective. No formal renegotiation is imminent but if any discussions do take place we shall ensure Scottish interests are represented.

Environment

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to support the provision of education on climate change outside formal education.

Ross Finnie: The Executive supports a range of initiatives aimed at educating the public about climate change outwith the formal education system. For example, we sponsor the Carbon Trust and the Energy Saving Trust to inform businesses and householders of action they can take to help tackle climate change; we work closely with the UK Climate Impacts Programme to assist organisations assess their vulnerability to climate change and we aim to inform the public through our environmental and travel awareness campaigns.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish a list of the compensation payments made to each livestock owner in Dumfries and Galloway during and after the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, without disclosing the identity of the owners concerned.

Ross Finnie: A list of total values of compensation payments made in Scotland for animals compulsory slaughtered as part of the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak will be published on the Scottish Executive website by the end of July.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was of culling livestock in Dumfries and Galloway during the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

Ross Finnie: It is not generally possible to specify the costs of the response to the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak to a particular area of Scotland as many of the resources used were mobile or formed part of the wider British disease control response. The National Audit Office report, The 2001 Outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (HC 939)  estimated the Central Government costs of the outbreak in Scotland to be £334 million.

Marine Environment

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to promote sustainable activity around the coast and in the territorial waters of Scotland to ensure their protection, in light of proposals by the UK Government to introduce a draft Marine Bill for the protection of the waters around England and Wales.

Ross Finnie: I announced on 15 June the outline of a new Scottish strategy for the long-term sustainability of Scotland’s marine and coastal environments, including work to identify Scotland’s first coastal and marine national park.

  A copy of my letter of 14 June to the Convener of the Environment and Rural Development Committee, setting out the main elements of that strategy, is available at the Parliament’s website: www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/environment/papers-05/rap05-20.pdf.

  I expect to publish more detail of the strategy within the next two months.

Pensions

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any concerns about deficits in some local authorities' pension funds and what plans it has to ensure local authorities address any potentially unsustainable shortfalls.

George Lyon: The three yearly actuarial review of the Local Government Pension Scheme in Scotland is currently underway and it will therefore be later this year before information on any surplus or deficit is known. In the reply to S2W-16075, answered on 27 April 2005, it was explained that it is for each local authority fund to use the resources at its disposal over time to cover any shortfalls.

Pensions

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-16075 by Mr Tom McCabe on 27 April 2005, what resources are available to local authorities to cover any shortfalls in their pension funds.

George Lyon: I refer the member to the answers given to questions S2W-16075, answered on 27 April 2005 and S2W-17667 answered on 27 July 2005.

  It is for each local authority to use the resources at its disposal, over time, to cover any shortfalls. Pension scheme deficits do not have to be cleared at the time of a valuation, rather the deficit will be addressed over many years by a range of methods such as increasing the contributions, reviewing the scheme benefits and considering the investment strategy.

Pensions

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-16075 by Mr Tom McCabe on 27 April 2005, what the safeguards are in the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 relating to how local authorities should account for any surplus or deficit in pension funds.

George Lyon: I refer the member to the answers to question S2W-17667 and S2W-17668 on 27 July 2005.

  It is for each local authority to address a surplus or deficit in the pension fund and this will be done over a long period taking into account actuarial recommendations on the employer contribution rate, investment strategy and information on demographics.

  The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 does not give specific safeguards for the control of local authority finances, rather it provides Scottish ministers with the power to intervene and exercise control:

  The act provides:

  
a duty to secure best value in local government service provision;
an extension of the Accounts Commission for Scotland's powers to hold hearings and publish findings so that they cover issues relating to best value and community planning;
the provision of a ministerial intervention power for continued or extraordinary statutory failure in Best Value or a significant misuse of the power of well being;
amendments to constraints on local authority trading activity, with the repeal of all existing legislation relating to compulsory competitive tendering;
a statutory basis for public performance reporting and arrangements to improve accountability;
a statutory basis for community planning to ensure long-term commitment to effective partnership working with communities and between local authorities and other key bodies and organisations;
a power of well-being to enable local authorities to work in a more innovative and creative way in responding to the needs of their communities, and
a vehicle to progress a number of miscellaneous provisions which relate to local government matters.